Pressurized steam cleaner for atty

[antrimco]

Most people have a steam cleaner in their house already. I use a cappuccino/espresso maker with a steam wand. It produces just enough pressure and heat to melt away grease, fatty solids and regular water soluble compounds. I know this because I use ours to clean my wife's jewelry (I am a designing jeweler), but I don't have a Steam Dragon at home to use. They both do a very good job on jewelry and should work very well on attys.

The steam used to clean the atty should be vapor only (wait awhile till the cappuccino maker stops spitting hot water and expels only high pressure steam.) At this point make sure you use tweezers or hemos to hold the atty, it will burn you almost instantly if not. The steam should clean it very quickly and when removed from the steam stream it should dry almost instantly.

Remember: steam generators (espresso machines, steam dragons...) can generate steam in excess of 212f (100c) more to the range of 300~350f because of the chambers atmospheric pressure. Please be careful.

 

[skywalk]

It won't vape. The amount of heat generated by the atty will not overcome the water since water boils at a higher temp then the stuff we vape. The atty needs to be dry for it to work proeperly.

so it will warm up and help the water evaporate quicker (just in case its slightly damp, that is) but no risk of short circuits or damage right?

isnt there any water in e-liquids?

 

[Dorian_Gray]

I have been using a steam cleaner for about a year new with excellent results. There are several things I'd like to point out to save you some headaches.

This is my method: (make sure that you hold the atty with pliars or whatever since they get REALLY hot!)

1. Hold the coil side (battery side) against the nozzle of the steam cleaner with some folded paper towels under the atty and give the atty 3-4 good blasts. This should remove lots of junk.

2. If what is coming out of the atty isnt clear yet, let cool for a few secs, turn it around and give 3-4 good blasts on the cart side.

3. repeat #1.

Things to be careful of:

Do NOT overheat the atty. remember that the center post through which you are sending the smoke is usually just held in by glue and/or press fit plastic - either of which melt. Thank means do not put the atty up to the nozzle and blast away with a solid long blast.

Make sure your atty is dry after cleaning. (I use canned computer air to blow it out....it cools it so that it is able to be handled as well.) If you have extra attys, let the freshly cleaned atty dry overnight.

If you have to just go at it....dry burn for a sec then drip 3-5 drops on the mesh wait a sec and smoke your cig until the vape is normal. DO NOT VAPE A DRY ATTY!

I wish you luck. I clean mine weekly.

Thanks

 

[Ast_Isis]

I am going to have to try this method since I have a cappuccino maker. My usual method is the Crest Pro Health but even with mega rinsing I can still taste the mint...ack ack.

 

[gotthelife4u]

I have the shark steam cleaner and it does work well to clean out your atomizers. I would post a link to my thread but its on black list forum. I use a pair of clamps to hold the atty then let the steam get going then hold the atty under the steam for about 15 seconds. I alternate between the thread side and cart side to make sure I get all the juice out. To make sure I get it all out I just smell the atty. When you are done just let it sit and cool down then drip on juice and you are good to go. So far I have done this to 6 attys and everyone of them have worked after cleaning.

 

[Wireguy]

Sure it will.

It won't vape. The amount of heat generated by the atty will not overcome the water since water boils at a higher temp then the stuff we vape. The atty needs to be dry for it to work proeperly.

 

[Poeia]

I bought my steam cleaner to try and get all the brown stuff off my walls (the little attachment with a cloth cover works well for that.) Now that I'm vaping, I'm going after all that gunk with renewed vigor.

It's nice to know I'll still have a use for the steamer once all traces of analogs are gone from my apartment.

 

[ApOsTle51]

Atties operate at well over 100 C so the atty will boil of any excess water but it's best to let them dry naturally first.

I've used steam cleaner on my atties before , meh , it worked for some not others . I've come to the point now that atty cleaning for me is more effort than is warranted.

But , If your gonna give the steam cleaner thing a go, be careful. The pressurised steam can push out the atomizer pot/assembly if you do it from the battery end.

 

[Charlie58]

I just tried my Shark steam cleaner on my 201 attys and a couple of 510s.
The 201s were getting a little weak after a little while of vaping with them even after cleaning, I must have freed up some dried gunk in them because the worst one works like new now.
The 510s were working alright vapor wise, just bad tasting even after cleaning in normal way.
Well when I first hit them with steam the smell was a little rank. After that I kept alternating ends untill what came out was clear now the taste is back to what it was when new. Good idea it works.

 

[Skwerl]

Thank you all for testing this out, I'm off to clean some atty's!

 

[RedRamen]

The only time I clean my attys is to get rid of flavors that WILL NOT come out... I had this rootbeer flavor (I'm sure it was just mixed wrong or something... I hope..) that made me sick to my stomach when I vaped it. Yes, that's how bad it was.

 

[5th Element]

The only time I clean my attys is to get rid of flavors that WILL NOT come out... I had this rootbeer flavor (I'm sure it was just mixed wrong or something... I hope..) that made me sick to my stomach when I vaped it. Yes, that's how bad it was.

what was your method for removing the nasty taste? i have that problem now lol i gag on it !!

 

[airpoff]

I've read about soaking in alcohol, mouthwash, boiling in water, placing in running water...but has anyone tried good old steam cleaning for their attys?

i have a hand-held steam cleaner. It looks like a teapot with a nozzle that delivers pure steam at around 2atms. Anyone ever tried this?

if you really want to steam clean your atty, just clean your cart and put a little water in your atty and vap a few time, this should work fine. Think of it this way,, Its like having a frying pan gunked up with food, get the pan hot and put 2 table spoons of water on the pan and the food come right off. I personaly only wash the out with hot water once in a while. I read alot about people burning up there attys, and I think there just cleaning too much. or tweeking batterie voltage.

 

[Ast_Isis]

Well I finally got around to trying the steam cleaning method and I am very happy with the results. When I was done, the inside of the atty looked and vaped like new!

I use to soak mine in Crest ProHealth but no matter how much I rinsed, they still tasted like mint. Yes, I hate mint/menthol flavored stuff.

 

[Shortstuff116]

I just tried this myself. I had an older el-cheapo hand-held garment travel steamer that emits steam through about 10 holes. I filled it with water and put it in the sink and with my atty held in a clothespin hanging off the side edge of the sink (held there with the weight of a hammer) with the cart end down, I let it slowly steam for about 20 minutes. There's no real steam pressure but plenty of steam heating the atty and during this time a few drops of a light coffee-colored juice came out the end. The e-juices I normally use are not very dark, only lightly colored. I then immediately rinsed the atty out under hot tap water and blew it out from both ends.

When I started, the wick material was almost black for the most part and the inside and threaded end looked tarnished. When I was finished the wick was almost pure white with just a hint of light color and the inside and threaded end are as clean as brand new. It blows through just like a brand new atty and the best part - it works just like a brand new atty!

This is now my perferred method of cleaning my 510 attys. Very quick, easy and thorough with no harm done. Even if you don't have any kind of steam machine you could simply hold an atty with a clothespin over a hot venting tea kettle.

This really works great!

 

[crashinbrn]

i have 6 attys i purchased with the WRONG flavor (my fault). i am going to try to flush them with the cappuccino steamer. and re-fill them will the fluid i have. wish me luck.

 

[Shortstuff116]

i have 6 attys i purchased with the WRONG flavor (my fault). i am going to try to flush them with the cappuccino steamer. and re-fill them will the fluid i have. wish me luck.

Please let us know how you made out.

 

[crashinbrn]

after a small amount of modding to make a semi-tight adapters(atty end caps), 3 done and 3 to go. and i can start to enjoy my kr808. the old flavors were a bit overpowering. the attys were going to just sit around, but i will have 6 after a little trouble.

btw i have a melitta cap machine, it too was just sitting around.

as for the moisture left, i am currently looking for my hand vacuum pump. putting a vacuum pressure on them for a small amount of time will dissipate the moisture quickly.

 

[crashinbrn]

i suppose just leaving the atty out overnight might suit some tho.

i get impatient sometimes....like waiting for the new flavors to come in the mail. the old flavors were too much to just top off(tried that) rinse out(tried that too).
no no.

the steamer was the way to go on these.

 

[Shortstuff116]

i suppose just leaving the atty out overnight might suit some tho.

i get impatient sometimes....like waiting for the new flavors to come in the mail. the old flavors were too much to just top off(tried that) rinse out(tried that too).
no no.

the steamer was the way to go on these.

I'm glad that it is working out for you. I just glanced at the atty in my 510 and the wicking material itself is almost black but it is still vaping pretty good. Obviosly it needs a good cleaning and I'm going to do my steam cleaning routine on this one which I already know is going to make it as good as new.

There really are no moving parts in my 510 atty (and perhaps all attys) therefore I would guess that mechanical failure is amost near zero, although an overheated or dry atty may be a problem with changing the actual chemical structure of the metals inside the atty due to overheating. Other than that as long as my wick gets really clean I have not had any problems.